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NBCUniversal to invest in tech news site by Swisher, Mossberg

NBCUniversal will invest and have a minority stake in a new web venture to be created by technology journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, according to the Wall Street Journal. Mossberg and Swisher

NBCUniversal will invest and have a minority stake in a new web venture to be created by technology journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Mossberg and Swisher founded technology news site AllThingsD in 2007 as an extension of the Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference that debuted four years earlier.

The deal will also allow NBC to run content generated by the technology content operation, says Reuters. Mossberg and Swisher had been talking with several large media companies, including Hearst, about possible partnerships, the Wall Street Journal reported. The talks with Hearst, however, have ended.

With their contract expiring at the end of the year, the parties said in September that they've agreed to go separate ways. Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, will retain the AllThingsD brand and plans to launch a technology news site with its own team of reporters and editors.

Mossberg, who is the chief technology product reviewer for the Wall Street Journal, said he will leave the paper at the end of the year after working there for more than 20 years.

Dow Jones, a division of News Corp. said it hasn't finalized its plans for the AllThingsD brand, but its new push for more technology industry coverage includes expanding the conference business, particularly overseas. "Technology is the central driver of economic growth and the Journal is committed to being the indispensable global source of news and information in this critical area," Gerard Baker, editor in chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, said in September.

In a note published on AllThingsD.com in September, Mossberg and Swisher wrote that their new corporate entity also will run a new website and host conferences. "While we can't give any details yet — and there are details — you can assume that this new independent business will be laser-focused on continuing and extending Web journalism and conference journalism with the highest standards," they wrote.

Their split has been expected for a while following reports earlier this year that AllThingsD had begun looking for new investors in anticipation of the contract expiration.